Medical ultrasound imaging relates to the techniques and processes used for creating images of the human body for clinical purposes, such as for diagnostic or medical examination purposes. Medical ultrasound imaging is a diagnostic imagine technique used to visualize and evaluate superficial and internal organs, their size, structures and possible pathologies or lesions. Medical ultrasound imaging is used in all facets of clinical care, for example, cardiology, neurology, vascular surgery, endocrinology, gastroenterology, gynecology, obstetrics, opthalmology, urology, musculoskeletal (tendons, muscles, nerves, and bone surfaces), and endovascular ultrasound, etc. These different medical ultrasound imaging techniques are performed on a patient's body by credentialed or certified technicians (sonographers) and physicians.
In order to earn credentials or a certificate, a candidate must have the necessary education and training and pass a certification examination. Typically, the certification examination consists of a series of multiple choice questions relating to still and video images of a patient's body. These images are typically recorded during real-life examinations of patients. In addition to multiple choice questions, during the test, the candidate might be tested on “knobology”—the manipulation of different controls (knobs) that affect image quality on an medical ultrasound imaging instrument. While the multiple choice questions test a candidate's medical and diagnostic knowledge, knobology tests the candidate's performance on the medical ultrasound imaging instrument to produce the necessary images and make a proper diagnosis.
Past efforts have been made to create a more interactive examination by simulating real-life examinations of patients. However, these simulations of real-life examinations of patients are, at best, quasi-simulations. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,168 to Aiger et al. on Apr. 3, 2001 (“the '168 patent”), discloses a method and system for simulating a Doppler ultrasound examination. In the simulator of the '168 patent, velocity and sound data describing blood flow at selected locations within blood vessels of a patient are gathered during an actual Doppler ultrasound examination. An operator of the simulator of the '168 patent performs an ultrasound examination on a mannequin using mock transducers. In the system of the '168 patent, images are created based on the pre-collected ultrasound data in accordance with the movement of the mock transducers along the mannequin.
Although the system disclosed in the '168 patent purportedly provides simulation of medical images, the system requires specialized components, such as mock transducers and a mannequin in order to provide the simulation. In addition, the system does not provide images that are fully simulated. Instead, the system of the '168 patent simulates images that are based on pre-collected ultrasound data gathered from real-life examinations.
The systems and methods of the present disclosure may be directed towards improvements in the existing technology.